Updating the announcement last week of bringing SLR to Kindle, Nook, iPad, Sony, etc. And thanks to Jeff Lipshaw for noting it at Prawfs--and I think he wants them to publish his new piece on models in contract theory. Which would be full circle since I'd wind up coding its HTML. Should I add <small><small> before any self-cite? Link his embedded URL cites to YouTubes of his riding horses? Or worse? Note to Stanford editors: Larry Solum yesterday called Jeff's piece "very interesting and recommended."

Anyway, the current issue #2 is now out, at Amazon, Amason UK, B&N for Nook, and Smashwords, so that covers all formats including ePub and Sony. It is also on the iPad at iTunes (or with apps) and will be at Sony ebookstore in a few weeks. For purposes of this blog, one article of interest to our readers is Judge Richard Posner's survey and analysis, with Albert Yoon (law, Toronto), of judges' perceptions of the quality of legal representation ("Studying the legal profession poses several challenges..." -- abstract beneath the fold). Also interesting for the blog topic is Norman Spaulding (law, Stanford) on changes and problems at the Department of Justice, and a student Note on economic espionage, plus of course other articles. SLR will issue a press release this week on how they partnered up with Quid Pro to go ebook. Looks like other journals will follow suit this year.

Related, but certainly off-topic, I'll mention that Quid Pro also released this week a republication in Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords of a classic of law and society (political science; the Court), Martin Shapiro's Freedom of Speech: The Supreme Court and Judicial Review. Its new cover is right. See also David Crump's modern translation, rhyme, and abridgment of Virgil's Aeneid. It was Hades to get poetry to work on Kindle but I mastered the Styx. It has a paperback too, and soon a hardback. Its innovation in digital is using jumps from underlined words, to link to annotations (as a blog does), rather than footnotes. Keeps the poem moving. The paperback put the notes in margin, shaped to mirror the poem, rather than at a distracting footer. I think people will like the format and, of course, David's heartfelt take on the epic.

Abstract to Posner and Yoon:

Studying the legal profession poses several challenges. The evolution of law has moved lawyers away from a generalist practice towards increased specialization. This makes it difficult to compare lawyers across different practice areas meaningfully and to provide a comprehensive assessment of the legal profession. Judges are well situated to provide such an evaluation, given their experience and scope of cases. This Article reports the responses of federal and state judges to a survey we conducted in 2008. The questions relate to their perceptions of the quality of legal representation, generally and in criminal and civil cases; how the quality of legal representation influences how they and juries decide cases; and their recommendations for change in the profession. We find that judges perceive significant disparities in the quality of legal representation, both within and across areas of the law. In many instances, the underlying causes of these disparities can be traced to the resources of the litigants. The judges’ responses also suggest that they respond differently than juries to these disparities, and that the effect of these disparities on juries may be more pronounced in civil than in criminal cases.